This Blog is about your 2021 Las Vegas travel guide, a short history of Las Vegas since its establishment till the modern time and the amazing place you will ever visit inside the city and the attractions surrounding Las Vegas.
Is it Las Vegas, Sin City, or the City of Meadows?
Current day Las Vegas was first explored by the Mexican explorer Rafael Rivera in 1820s followed by Antonio Armijo. The travelers used the area as a stop on the way from Texas to the West and North due to its artesian well and some green areas like an oasis in the desert. Due to its availability of water and greenery, it was called by the travelers as “city of meadows” (“vegas” in Spanish).
However, as Las Vegas as a city was first established by the Mormons in 1905, but after a while the settlers left, and Las Vegas became the city it is today. Las Vegas was issued a gaming license by the state of Nevada, in 1931.
In 1906 Golden gate Hotel and casino was opened its doors in downtown Las Vegas today’s Fermont Street. In 1910 the state outlawed gambling, Las Vegas stayed the city of underground gambling and alcohol, and when the gambling was legalized again in 1931, the name “Sin City” stayed to be the nickname of the block around the Fermont Street and then whole Las Vegas. El Rancho on the Strip was the first Themed Casino in 1941.
Las Vegas income
Las Vegas, of course, is famous for its gambling and prostitution tourism, cheap food, and alcohol. However, for some time now, and maybe because of the online gambling, other states allowing casinos and change of the demographics of people in the US, Las Vegas started to slowly be focusing on many other ways to keep Las Vegas one of the most visited cities in the world.
Las Vegas today is more a place for people to come with their families, kids, or friends to spend memorable times. The gambling is still the big attraction, but not the only focus of the city anymore. Per 2019 data, gambling It is still $10 billion industry in Las Vegas, but out of total revenue of $58 billion.
Las Vegas is now is the home of many shows, conventions, home for many celebrity singers, entertainers, magicians, cooks and more than 150,000 hotel rooms and 7,700 Airbnb or other short term furnished apartments. Per 2019 data, it attracted more than 42 million tourists in 2019, and more than 6.5 million of them was for conventions. Even with all the pandemic and the lockdown in 2020, there were more than 20 million visitors visited the Sin City.
In addition, Las Vegas has Nellis Air Force Base and close by Creech Airforce base which all their staff live in Las Vegas. There are many other governmental and military test fields that their staff and their families live in Las Vegas.
Things to do in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is the city of 24 hours entertainment for people from all interests, gender, ages, and cultures. The city is open 24 hour every day and it is full of life, lights, music, food, alcohol, shows, unbelievable hotels and architecture, in addition to close by beautiful and historic places to visit.
Some of the tings that you can do in Las Vegas are:
Gambling and Casinos
There are Casinos with 24 hours operation all over Las Vegas and close by Henderson and Boulder city, but there are three places in Las Vegas that has the most concentration of casinos.
1. Las Vegas Strip is 4.2 miles on Las Vegas Blvd, between Mandalay Bay (Russel St.) and Strat Casinos and resorts (Sahara Ave.). On the southern end of the strip just opposite the Las Vegas McCarren Airport lies the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. This sign one of the famous original signs that people stand in a line for half hours and sometimes more to take a picture of themselves under it. Very recently and on the other end of the strip there is another sign, just opened.
On this street there are many Casinos most with some type of theme, but the ones that draws attention the most, and starting from the very south end of the strip are:
- Mandalay Bay with its beach and shark Reef Aquarium (there is something similar in Dubai Mall in Dubai UAE).
- Luxor, with its Egyptian pyramid shape and theme, and the huge light shooting to the sky from top of the pyramid. Luxor and its towers have more than 4,400 rooms.
- Excalibur with its King Arthur theme
- New York New York, with its New York skyscrapers, bridge, and statue of liberty and the huge roller coaster on top of the buildings and at one point it can be seen from inside the casino.
The fence on the top of the picture is where the roller coaster on top of the building pass through the casino. - MGM the biggest hotel with 6,852 rooms and on the corner on the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana Blvd, there lies the statue of the famous MGM lion.
- Planet Hollywood with its Miracle mall. A one-mile circular internal walkway with all type of bars, restaurants, takeaway places, retail shops, art galleries, tattoo shops, and the famous Tipsy Robot (two robotic arms can create any preprogrammed or custom made alcoholic or nonalcoholic cocktails).
- MGM Park (previously Monte Carlo), with its Italian restaurants and many other bars and food places.
- Bellagio with its famous dancing waters and the extremely beautiful lobby, the pool and cabana, and Conservatory & Botanical Gardens that changes its theme at every season and during Christmas and Chinese New Year.
- Paris with its Eiffel Tower (50% replica of the original in Paris), and the interior that resembles the streets of Paris, and the famous Champs-Élysées street.
- Caesars Palace, and its Forum shopping area with its “Fountain of the Gods” and the Atlantis free show, the pool, the Coliseum shopping area, and the curved escalators.
- Flamingo with its Flamingo garden, it is the 4th oldest casino in Las Vegas still operating under the same name was first opened its doors December 26th, 1946 with 3,626 Rooms. (the other 3 are in Downtown, see below)
- LINQ with its outside Street with famous restaurants, and end with the Eye of Vegas (the biggest operational fares wheel in the world 550 ft, opened in 2014, the largest would be in Dubai but still under construction and not operational)
- Venetian and Palazzo, with its beautiful indoor and outdoor gondolas, the San Marcos marketplace with live music on weekends and great restaurants. Also, there is the Palazzo indoor fountain and the big “Love” statue, restaurants, coffeeshops and retail shops.
- The Mirage with its shows and external free Volcano shows at night (8:00, 9:00 and 10:00 not operational now due to the temporary lockdown)
- TI, or treasure Island, with its CSI and Avenger shows. It used to have a pirate ship outside but that is gone now.
- Wynn, with its dangerous interior, pool, internal garden, golf course, and beautiful interior.
- Circus Circus, one of the older ones and at the end of the strip (Sahara ave.), famous for its continuous circus shows.
- Strat (changed from Stratosphere) is the tallest tower in Las Vegas, with restaurant at the top and at the top of the tower there are some incredibly challenging and thrilling rides and activities.
Of course, there are many I did not mention here like Cosmopolitan, Bally’s, Harrah’s Las Vegas, and other hotels, shops, gambling places and much more.
2. Downtown Las Vegas, and its Light District, an absolute must see. It is, in my opinion, the craziest place in Las Vegas, the best place to walk and listen to music, and the unbelievably big screen on top of the whole Fermont street from Las Vegas Blvd to the Main Street and on both sides of “Fremont Street Experience”.
The following casinos are on that 4 blocks.
- Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, the oldest casino since January 13th, 1906 with 122 Rooms.
- El Cortes Hotel and casino the second oldest Casino since 1941 with 364 rooms.
- Golden Nugget third oldest casino since 1946 with 2,419 rooms.
- Circa Resort and casino, the newest in Las Vegas October 28th, 2020. Replacing the Las Vegas Club which was since 1930 to 2017. 44 stories, making it highest in that region and visible from distance and 777 rooms. Famous for its pool and the pool amphitheater and of course being on the Fermont Experience.
- Plaza Hotel and casino on one end
- Fermont Hotel and Casino.
- 4 Queens Hotel and casino.
- The D casino and Hotel.
- California Hotel and Casino.
- Main Street Hotel, Casino and Brewery.
Fermont Experience also have many restaurants, shops, street performers and artists, the famous SlotZilla Zipline (one of the longest, and biggest).
3. The Strip on Boulder Street. Most visitors to Las Vegas know Las Vegas Blvd Strip and downtown Fermont Street and the Casinos on these two locations. Las Vegas has many more casinos all over Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and North Las Vegas.
One of the other streets that has a concentration of casinos is the Boulder Hyw (582) on the Eastern side of the city runs from E Flamingo Street at the north side and going south all the way to Bolder city passing through Henderson.
Some of the larger Casinos on this road are:
- Boulder Station which is almost the bigging of the Strip from north.
- Sam’s Town
- Sunset Station
- Green Valley Ranch
- Fiesta Henderson
There are many more smaller casinos on the way.
There are many other Casinos like the Fiesta, Texas Station (closed during the lockdown and still closed till today) and many other Station family casinos
The South Point Hotel and Casino is another big casino on Fyw 15, and at the very south of Las Vegas, almost the first big Casino when coming from Los Angeles.
Also, there is the Red Rock Casino all the way on the West of Las Vegas close to Summerland and many more.
Shows
The second thing Las Vegas is famous for are Shows. Las Vegas is full of shows. Famous singers and performers have shows in one of the Casinos on the Strip or Downtown or other Casinos all around Las Vegas.
There are free shows, like the water show outside of Bellagio (best view is from Paris Eiffel Tower top across the street), the volcano shows outside of Mirage, or the Atlantis Show inside the Forum in Caesars Palace, the Fermont Experience at every top of hour through the night, the many other free shows on Fremont street (closed temporarily now due to the lockdown).
Beside the free shows, there are the many shows and exhibitions around Las Vegas inside or next to some casino. Some of these shows are:
- “O”, by Cirque Du Soleil, in Bellagio.
- “The Beatels”, by Cirque Du Soleil, in Mirage.
- “Michael Jackson – ONE”, by Cirque Du Soleil, in Mandalay Bay.
- KA, by Cirque Du Soleil in MGM.
- “Absinthe”, in Caesars Palace, an ultimate adult only shows, mixed with comedy, circus actions, cabaret and more.
- Opium, in Cosmopolitan, another adult only shows from the same creator of Absinthe.
- One the oldest shows is “Vegas! The Show” in Planet Hollywood been running over 20 years.
- Le Reve (the dream) in Wynn.
- The Blue Men Group in Luxor.
- Mat Franco magic show in LINQ
- Criss Angels mind freak in Planet Hollywood.
- Paranormal Mind in Bally’s
- Penn and Teller magic show in Rio Las Vegas, one of the longest magical shows inlas Vegas.
- Mystere in TI (treasure Island)
There are many more in every casino in Las Vegas there is one or more shows, with offers and discounted prices in some seasons or days of the week.
Of course, there is also the “Vegas Resident” celebrity shows. The “Vegas Residency” is basically is given to a performer that has a celebrity status of some type and have a contract with one of the Casinos or venues to perform shows for certain period (few months to few years). Some of the famous “Vegas Residents” were (or is) Elvis Presly, Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Celine Dion, Elton John, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Santana, Sting, Aerosmith, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, and very lately Usher.
There are also museums and exhibitions in many places in Las Vegas that can be visited some in casinos and some in different venues. Some of these museums or exhibitions are:
- The Neon Museum, Las Vegas old famous singers.
- Bodies the Exhibition at Luxor.
- The National Nuclear Testing Museum.
- Pinball hall of fame.
- Madame Tussauds Las Vegas wax Museum at Venetian.
La Vegas was (and still is) the home to many TV shows such as:
- Pawn Stars,
- Sin City Diaries,
- CSI,
- Counting Cars,
- The Defenders,
- And many more.
Conventions
Las Vegas is one to the most important destinations for Conventions, Religious gatherings, and other type of business or social Conventions. In 2019 there were more than 6.6 million visitors due to conventions. Some of the more famous conventions in Las Vegas are:
- CES “Consumer Electronics Show” hold every January of every year in Las Vegas, the world’s largest technology, electronics and innovation shows. It brings more than 180 thousand participants every year.
- World Concrete (CONEXPO – CON/AGG), with more than 60 thousand participants nationally and internationally usually in February.
- Magic Men’s apparel guild of California (men’s fashion exhibition) with more than 85 thousand participants usually in February.
- NAB “National Association of Broadcasters” held in April and brings more than 100 thousand participants and one of the most important conventions.
- JCK Jewelry tradeshow.
- G2E, Global Gaming Expo.
- NFR, National Final Rodeo usually held in December of every year on UNLV campus.
- The Professional Bull Riders world finalist hold in T Mobile Arena on the Strip.
The conventions in Las Vegas are growing year after year and becoming one of the main attractions and revenues of city of Las Vegas.
Las Vegas lately is also building many sport arenas to attract sport teams; T-Mobile Arena is one which attracts Las Vegas, very loved, NHL Hockey team “Vegas Golden Nights”. The new $2 billion “Allegiant Stadium” attracted NFL “Raiders” and they relocate from California and Oklahoma to Las Vegas. The Allegiant Stadium is an indoor football stadium with more than 65,000 seats and the grass rolled out to see the sun when there are no games and roll back when there are games.
Food
The last item and in my opinion one of the most famous and important attractions of Las Vegas, are the huge variety of food in the city. It varies from the low-cost restaurant, to the extremely expensive restaurants owned by many of the celebrity chefs of the world.
Some of the world-famous celebrity chefs have restaurants in Las Vegas are:
- Restaurant Guy Savoy, the famous French chef who is the head and the chef of Guy Savoy in Paris and the only other one is in Las Vegs.
- Gordon Ramsay, one of the most well know chefs of the world with restaurants around the world and five ion Las Vegas, the “Hell Kitchen” in Caesars palace, Gordan Ramsay’s Burger in Planet Hollywood, Gordan Ramsay’s Steak house in Paris las Vegas, Gordan Ramsay’s Pub and Grill in Caesar’s Palace and Gordan Ramsay’s fish and chips in LINQ street.
- Guy Fieri,
- Mr. Chow,
- Nobu Las Vegas at Caesars Palace,
- Giada De Laurentiis,
The above are some of the chefs I know and like, there are many incredibly famous and owners of best restaurants in the world with restaurants opened in Las Vegas.
Other Places in Vegas or nearby can be visited
Las Vegas is close to many beautiful historic and natural parks and sites that can be half hour or max 4 hours away. The following are some:
- Hoover Dam, the famous and one-of-a-kind dam that exists on Colorado river bridging between Nevada and Arizona.
- Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge across Hoover Dam, opened in 2010 with a cost of $240 million and its memorial plaza that allows you to get on the bridge and have a bird’s eye view over the hoover dam next by. It is very handicap accessible and a must see.
- Grand Canyon National park in Arizona, one of the most beautiful national parks in the US.
- Skywalk & Eagle Point – Grand Canyon West, on the west side of the Grand Canyon in an Indian reservation, need a tour to get in. it is another beautiful place with a glass Skywalk over the Grand Canyon. (Taking pictures on the glass Skywalk was not allowed during my visit).
- The Lake Mead National Park. It is a National park with RV and mobile home parking place inside. Has a fishing, hiking, and beautiful scenery over Lake Mead lake (the lake created on the upstream of Hoover Dam.
- Red Rock, another beautiful National Park.
- Valley of Fire state Park, unbelievably beautiful rock formations and scenery and must see.
- There is also on the south side of Las Vegas on the East Side of Freeway 15 the Seven magic Mountains, a man-made colorful stack of rocks, licensed to stay through 2021 and will be removed after license expires.
- Mount Charleston and Charleston Peak.
- There are many other places close by like Mojave Desert part of famous Rout 66, Lee Canyon, Eldorado Canyon Mine Tour and other close by places.
Eldorado Canyon Mine Tour 
Eldorado Canyon Mine Tour
Conclusion
I have been living in Las Vegas for more than 2 years now. Las Vegas is one of the most beautiful cities I visited or lived in. Outside the touristic locations, it is a quiet and calm city. It is attracting many business and investors due to its affordable housing market compared to the crazy California housing market. Also Las Vegas has no state tax and life is less expensive than the neighboring California.
Vegas is full of history, from the 30s and 40s Mafia stories, gambling, to prostitution, but it is a city that never sleeps. It is really a 24 hours city, you can wake up at any time of the day and you will find places to go to, eat, drink, have fun and you will not be the only one there.
Vegas changed during the last 20 years, it is no longer the city of only gambling, and alcohol and prostitution. Now the Sin City is a city of many activities, a place you can visit alone and make friends, or come with friends and family and kids and have one-of-a-kind experiences. It has one of the best malls and shopping areas, best food and restaurants and cheap buffets, it has shows and entertainment for kids and adults.
Truly Vegas in my opinion, is as city of light like Paris and maybe more, it is as romantic as Venice and maybe more, it is full of action as Bangkok and maybe more, full of interesting places to walk and eat like Rome and maybe more.
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